Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Musing on the aftermath of Chapel Hill

Today we learned of the horrific killing of three Muslims in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 23-year-old Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were all brutally executed by Craig Stephen Hicks. On his social media sites, Hicks identities himself as an atheist, who had, allegedly, posted images critical of all religions, including Islam.

U.S. media coverage, particularly by right-wing organisations such as Fox News has been conspicuous by its absence. Twitter, on the other hand, has gone into overdrive..

A day, one might think, when humanity would be united in the face of such a senseless act of violence. And yet, on the very day their deaths were announced, I have read comments claiming this is a result of atheism, leading some to question why prominent atheists aren't speaking out against this atrocity.

When a prominent atheist, Richard Dawkins, speaks out about this, he is subsequently attacked for "defending atheism". Dawkins has made an error of judgement, I believe, in leaping on press reports that the murders were the result of a dispute over a parking space. Remaining silent on the reasons behind this senseless slaughter would have been a more sensible approach, at least until we are in possession of all the facts.

Dawkins is right, however, that atheists should not be rushing to apologise for the actions of one man. To do so is ridiculous. One cannot hold an entire group of people responsible for the actions of one man. Equally, let us not be under illusion that atheists are exempt from scrutiny. While it is, I believe, rarer than amonst religious groups, atheists have the capacity to be as bigoted, racist, homophobic, judgemental and intolerant as their religious counterparts. That three Muslims lay dead bears testament to that.

This leads me, neatly, to my next point. Comments regarding atheists have been, largely, from Christians, predominately those who identify as evangelical or fundamentalist. The Muslim community, which has a legitimate grievance on occasions such as this, have, as usual, been more rational than their Christian counterparts. Certainly, there have been fundamentalist Muslims who have blamed atheism, but they are a minority in comparison.

Much worse, however, are the comments I have seen which imply, either tacitly or overtly, that, since the victims were Muslims, they "got what they deserved". "The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim", the killer, Hicks is "a hero" (yes, someone genuinely tweeted that nugget of wisdom), and that this, somehow justifies the taking of three innocent lives.

Some have postulated that the family had "extremist views" with regard to Palestine and Israel. As yet, I have seen no evidence to support this, and in the event of any being presented, it changes nothing. Holding extreme positions is a cornerstone of freedom of speech, and more importantly, of thought. It is when we act on those extreme views that retribution is, although unacceptable, perhaps understandable. Even if we assume that they held a strong position on Israel (again, no evidence to support this), they did not deserved to murdered.

This assassination of the victim's character is nothing new. We saw Trayvon Martin and Michael a Brown portrayed as "thugs" long before any evidence came to light. Only hours after news that the death of ISIS hostage Kayla Mueller had been confirmed, a report emanated from the conservative blogosphere alleging Mueller had served as a "human shield" for a pro-Hamas group. Mueller worked for a pro-Palestinian organisation in 2010-11, and also for a variety of refugee organisations in Israel and Turkey. But her Palestinian activism led to the following reactions, the first from a Breitbart editor; the latter from a self-styled conservative pundit:

Meanwhile, the murders of the three Muslim students in Chapel Hill occasioned this response from would-be vigilante blogger Chuck Johnson:

Johnson retweeted a number of pro-Palestinian posts from Deah Bakarat, the 23-year-old shot murdered in Chapel Hill, despite none being anti-Semitic or anti-Israel.

Incidentally, this was Bakarat’s tweet from two weeks ago:

Naturally, the most tired canard to rear its ugly head, again is the claim that all terrorists are Muslims, as if this serves as some justification for their murders. Again, this is promulgated, largely, by right wing, fundamentalist Christians. I will concede that, if there is an act of terrorismreceiving media coverage, chances are, the perpetrators are committing it in the name of one religion. Note my caveat. Media coverage. Certainly, with groups such as ISIS, Boko Haram, Al-Queda etc, Islamic fundamentalism is a subject we cannot avoid. As I've previously written, the VAST majority of Muslims, particularly, but not limited to, those in Western Countries, are peace loving, kind, decent human beings.

So what of the claim that all terrorists are Muslims? Do you think the IRA were all Muslims? They systematically carried out a campaign against the UK for over two decades. The Oklahoma bombing.. Timothy McVeigh can hardly be described as a Muslim. There are more than enough organisations which have nothing to do with the Muslim faith, all carrying out terrorist attacks across the world. Here's a list of just a few, some disbanded, but most still VERY active. This does not include 'lone wolf' terrorists, such as Anders Brievik, Timothy McVeigh. A list of examples of those can be found HERE

Christian
Terrorists..

* God's Army A terrorist group in Myanmar.

* Nagaland Rebels (1947-present) Active in predominantly
Christian state in Hindu majority India. Involved in several bombings
in 2004. Goal: Independence from India after annexing parts of neighboring Indian
states and Burma
if it has Christian majority.

* National Liberation Front of Tripura (1989-present) A
group that seeks the independence of Tripura from India to create a Christian
Tripura.

* Phineas Priesthood An American based Christian Identity
movement.

* National Democratic Front of Bodoland, active terrorist in
the Indian state of Assam,
involved in the murder of Bineshwar Brahma, prominent Hindu Bodo activist

* Animal Liberation Front (ALF) - operates worldwide.
Property damage and animal release, related to animal rights issues. Listed as
one of the top domestic threats by United States Department of Homeland
Security, FBI and ATF.

* Earth Liberation Front (ELF) - Founded 1992; operates in
US, Canada, and UK. Property destruction, related to environmental issues.
Listed as one of the top domestic threats by United States Department of
Homeland Security, FBI and ATF.

* Environmental Life Force - Disbanded in 1972. Used
explosive and incendiary devices in defense of the environment.

Abortion

* Army of God -- anti-abortion, operates in the United
States. Property damage and loss of life in attacks on abortion clinics.

* Black Metal Inner Circle (disputable), a group comprised
of seminal Norweigian black metal musicians widely believed to have existed in
the early 1990's. Some of these members burnt more than fourty churches
throughout Norway on the basis of violently expelling Christianity and
supplanting it with alternative ideologies such as satanism and neo-paganism -
which were endorsed and supported by Euronymous, the alleged leader of the
group - hence some have perceived this group a relatively minor terrorist
group.

* Animal Rights Militia, a terrorist organization
responsible for numerous letter bombs in Great Britain during the 1980s.

* Scottish National Liberation Army, a Scottish terrorist
organization fighting for the cause of Scottish independence.

* An Gof, a Cornish terrorist organization fighting for the
cause of Cornish independence.

United States

* Afro-American Liberation Army (AALA), a terrorist
organization active in Los Angeles during the 1970s.

* Aliens of America, a terrorist organization active in Los
Angeles during the 1970s.

* American Indian Movement (AIM), originally founded as a
civil rights organization, the AIM was involved in the 1972 occupations of the
Mayflower II, Mount Rushmore and the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in
Washington, D.C. as well as the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee during which
members were involved in gun battles with federal agents.

* Americans for Justice, a terrorist organization active on
the west coast during the 1970s.

* Bay Bombers, a radical terrorist organization active in
San Francisco, California during the 1960s.

* Black Liberation Army (BLA), an offshoot faction of the
Black Panther Party reportedly involved in murders of police officers in San
Francisco and New York between 1971 and 1973.

* Black Muslims, a separatist involved in numerous shootouts
with police and other violent activities including the "Zebra
Killings" in which fourteen people were murdered in the San Francisco-area.

* Black Nation of Islam (BNI), a terrorist organization
active during the 1970s and 80s.

* Black Revolutionary, a terrorist organization active in
New York during the 1970s.

* Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a terrorist organization
responsible for the 1973 murder of Oakland school superintendent Marcus Foster
and, most notably, the 1974 kidnapping of Patricia Hearst.

* Weather Underground (WU), radical terrorist organization
responsible for nineteen bombings between 1969 and 1974, including the U.S.
Capitol Building in 1971 and The Pentagon in 1974.

______________________________

The media loves nothing more than a scapegoat. I have no doubt whatsoever that far right extremists will seek to justify the killing of three innocent Muslims, or to use their deaths as a battering ram against the evils of atheism. The bottom line is these were senseless murders, whether they were motivated by atheism, by racism or hatred of Muslims, or by a parking space dispute. The fact that it is Islam coming under scrutiny from certain quarters, when it is an entirely innocent Islamic family who are the victims is sickening, but unsurprising.

To hear ANYONE describe the animal who killed three people, execution style, in cold blood as a "hero", is disgraceful. To them, I say, look to your own. If you believe your religion, your ideology, your belief structure to be immune from wrongdoing, or incapable of being used as justification for violence, you are wrong. Hands down, wrong.

ANY ideology can be distorted and used to justify the most horrific acts upon our fellow human beings. And all too frequently, it is...

2 comments:

I'm not a believer of any faith, so when I hear about religious people killing each other over religion, it does sound quite silly. I have heard speculation that the killer was an atheist and that he killed them because they were Muslim. That's even more ridiculous. For an atheist, death equals game over forever. If true, then he killed them over what he believed was a work of fiction.

I have also heard that he killed them over a parking space. That's about as silly as killing people over a cartoon. Makes you wonder if he ever considered finding another space and simply walking a little bit further.

Whatever the hell happened, the one thing that's blindingly obvious is some people have completely lost perspective.

How very true.. For all our advances as a species, it seems some are hellbent on returning to the Dark Ages. That any human being takes the life of another is tragic and senseless. That they would do so over a parking space is perfectly insane. To do so over religion is, sadly, something that is becoming all too commonplace. That it would come from an atheist is baffling. Killing someone for believing in something they do not believe exists themselves. If there is any logic in that, I'll be damned if I can find it.